


(nothing wrong when) a song ends in the minor key

by akechigore



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romantic Comedy, alternative universe, kinda enemies to lovers??, morrissey is constantly mentioned, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:50:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20737250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akechigore/pseuds/akechigore
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak is a multi-instrumentalist who loves the Smiths. Richie Tozier is not as stupid as people make him out to be.





	(nothing wrong when) a song ends in the minor key

**Author's Note:**

> hi. so. uhm. it has been almost 2 years since i've written anything but here i am again because of reddie  
i hope you guys like this <3 not sure if there's going to be any explicit content but i'll change the tags if it does  
please let me know if there are any mistakes since english is not my first language

Beverly’s basement was always too loud. Richie honestly thought he would never understand why did Bill like her so much. They had that thing going on since their early days. Although it took a while until they got together, it has always been there, unnoticed. No one would have ever imagined those two to be so compatible. Especially Richie. Not that Bev wasn’t cool, she was, just not exactly who Richie pictured being his best friend’s significant other.

Stereotypical, maybe, but Bill was the captain of the university’s basketball team, which made him somewhat popular despite all the stuttering, and there were a lot of girls desperate to hook up with him… Therefore, why settle? Richie thought, knowing he would never be able to do the same even if he had the chance. No, he wasn’t a basketball star like Bill, he was more of a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater kind of guy, but he did his own thing and it usually worked.

“So… Are we _really_ going down there?” Richie asked once again, shuddering as he listened to the awful sound coming from downstairs.

“S-Shut up, Richie.” Bill frowned and opened the door to the basement, going down. Much to Richie’s surprise, Bev wasn’t the one doing the awful singing. It was Morrissey, from the Smiths. He recognized that song because his mom used to listen to it repeatedly when he was younger.

Richie doubted Beverly was the one to choose that track. She despised Morrissey, as she did to most of the people who weren’t Courtney Love. She was in her basement with Stanley Uris, her best friend and also a music enthusiast. Richie had kissed him once in high school so he had to admit the guy was somewhat talented, unfortunately, not talented enough to make their band sound any better. They were sitting on the couch, Stan reading a book and Bev finishing to smoke a cigarette. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw Bill.

“Bill!” She stood up to hug her boyfriend and greet Richie as well. “Richie, hey! You guys came early...”

“I’ve missed you too, baby.” Bill laughed as he gave her a small peck on the lips, patting her head gently. “Hi, Stan. I t-thought you guys would be rehearsing? Where is the new guy?”

“Oh, but he’s not really new,” Beverly replied. “He used to live here, although you guys probably don’t know him. He went to a catholic school... Isn’t that crazy?” Bev pointed that out grinning as if it was something very controversial. Richie found that amusing. The new dude on her band was a prude? He wondered if the poor guy knew where he was getting into.

“So you’re going to corrupt him as you did to Billy here?” Richie teased, remembering his best friend was also very much of a prude back then until Bev finally made him start to live a little.

“I think he’s incorruptible.” Stan’s eyes finally met Richie’s, and he gave him a gentle smile. He was always very polite and one of Beverly’s friends he felt most comfortable hanging around with. “One of a kind, honestly.”

“Who is?” The new guy, who seemed to be hiding until now, finally showed up. And much to Richie’s surprise, he was cute. Very short and delicate looking, hair a bit longer than it was supposed to be, falling into his eyes, which apparently bothered him since he kept trying to fix it.

“No one.” Beverly changed the subject soon enough for him not to notice. “Guys, this is Eddie Kaspbrak. He’s our new guitarist.”

Bill analyzed the new guy for a while as if he looked almost familiar. Richie could read that expression very well, but he couldn’t tell why it was there. He doubted Bill knew Eddie Kaspbrak, Beverly herself had said the guy used to go to a catholic school and his best friend had never been one to go to church. Besides, they were together all the time since they were kids, but Eddie felt like a complete stranger to Richie. And you can bet he would have recognized that cute face anywhere.

It wasn’t long until Bill shrugged and smiled. “Hi, Eddie. Nice to meet you. I’m Bill Denbrough and this is Richie Tozier.”

“So you’re the charming man?” Richie teased, referring to the song in the background, it had been playing for a while now. He knew that wasn’t Stan or Bev’s idea. Stanley was more into some Edvard Grieg kind of shit and Beverly wouldn’t listen to anything that wasn’t at least 80% similar to Bikini Kill, so there weren’t many options left. Besides, This charming man by the Smiths suited the guy just fine. “A jumped-up pantry boy… Who never knew his place…” Richie sang along, aware that he might have sounded worse than Morrissey himself.

He even danced, yet Eddie still looked unimpressed. “Hm… Yeah… I guess.”

“Fuck, Rich. You gotta give people some time to get used to you.” Thank God Beverly laughed because he doubted Bill or Stan would have helped him break the ice. “Don’t be so serious, Eddie. He’s just teasing you.” She said and the new guy smiled for the first time since he showed up.

“Plus, he has, like, one brain cell.” Stan didn’t even take his eyes off his book to make that comment, but Eddie giggled. He looked cute like that, which was annoying since he was laughing _at_ Richie.

“Just tell me you love me, Uris. Don’t be shy just because Eddie Spaghetti is here.” He had decided to play along, sending Stan a kiss. The latter rolled his eyes in response.

“Gross,” Bill added. “But you’ll be fine, Eddie. Just tell me if Richie annoys you and I’ll kick his ass. I won’t let him destroy Beverly’s band. Again.”

“What can I do? I have a thing for guitarists.” Richie glanced at Eddie, who still looked unbothered. He was starting to wonder if the new guy had a problem with his personality since he was being nice with everyone else but him.

“Keep it in your pants this time, please.” Beverly asked nicely.

Richie knew she was being deadly serious. The last guitarist left the band because of him, after all, but he couldn’t help making everyone fall in love with him… It was just natural. And non-committal, although most of them couldn’t understand that, just like said guitarist. Richie couldn’t even remember her name. Lisa, maybe? Who knows? They all had disapproved the way things ended between them, but Richie knew it was for the best. She was a bit of a pain in the ass. Not that Eddie there seemed any different- actually, he seemed worse. Fortunately, he felt they wouldn’t be having the same problem with that one, considering he hadn’t smiled at him not even once since they met.

Richie would be lying if he said it didn’t affect him. When he said he could get anyone he wanted, that he did his thing and it usually worked, his “_thing_” was basically teasing around nonchalantly, hoping things would work out. Not that he wanted Eddie — he had met him for less than 30 minutes, for God’s sake —, but… Not even a curious look? It takes an extreme lack of sense of humor to do that.

“S-So,” Bill was the one to try to make things lighter this time. Although they could talk about the Lisa subject casually nowadays, it still pissed Beverly off when it came up, and she could have an awful temper sometimes. It was noticeable she was doing her best to sound the most chill in that specific afternoon. Wouldn’t want to startle Eddie Spaghetti, right? “Bev said you’re a multi-instrumentalist, Eddie. What do you p-play?”

“Guitar, bass, violin, piano, flute, clarinet…”

“The list goes on endlessly.” Stan interrupted him.

“Yeah, kind of. I had a lot of free time when I was younger and I didn’t have a lot of friends so… Mom wanted me to master every possible musical instrument in existence.” Eddie tried to say that as if it was no big deal, but Bill looked very impressed.

Even Richie was impressed, however, he was playing the same game Eddie was, trying to be as expressionless as he could. It was hard, especially when processing the information Kaspbrak was some kind of musical genius. He didn’t know geniuses could look cute and wear such tiny white shorts.

Beverly put her arm around Eddie’s shoulder playfully. “Told you he was the best.” She was taller than him and looked way more mature than all of them.

“It’s nothing.” Richie saw Eddie’s cheeks turn red as he stared at the floor shyly. _Cute_.

“Show them, charming man.” Stan encouraged him, using the nickname Richie just gave in a much more tender way, which kinda made him jealous. He wished he knew how to sound like that because Eddie’s face lit up adorably. “Tozier is always saying how much we suck, we’re counting on you to show him otherwise.”

Kaspbrak nodded. Beverly checked on Bill and held his hand, eager to see what his boyfriend would think of what was about to happen. Eddie went to the corner of the basement and took his guitar. Acoustic, not electric, to Richie’s surprise. Bev loved to make noise, he was sure in any other occasion she would have commented how much she hated acoustic covers, but seeing how she was looking at Eddie in a very motherly way, as if he was the most precious human being on Earth in that moment, Richie doubted she would complain.

Eddie sat down next to Stan, who had just closed his book to pay attention to him as well. Richie himself was expecting a great show just by how the others were reacting, but what came next was beyond his expectations — which were awfully low, he had to admit. “Uh… Well. This is There is a light that never goes out by the Smiths.”

When Eddie touched the strings of the guitar for the first time, a soft sound started to fill the room. Richie knew that song, as his mom used to sing him to sleep. Maybe_ to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die_ wasn’t the best lyric a mother could sing to her son, but he loved it just the same.

Eddie’s voice was soothing. “Take me out, tonight... Where there's music and there's people and they're young and alive...” Sweet like honey, Richie thought. It didn’t fit the band idea as Beverly usually sounded angry, but she was clearly loving that as much as he was. Eddie looked so small compared to his guitar seeing play so well left Richie in pure awe. He did everything perfectly, closed eyes and delicate notes. Richie was out of words to describe how it was the greatest thing he had ever heard, voice and melody-wise.

“To die by your side… Is such a heavenly way to die…”

There it was, the part he remembered the most. It made him travel right back to his younger days, his mom caressing his hair as his mind was already somewhere far, dreaming. He could feel his lips curving upwards and the game was over for now. It was impossible to stay expressionless after hearing that. Luckily Eddie had his eyes closed, but Bill had noticed. He elbowed Richie fast enough to not catch Beverly’s attention, but it had caught Stan’s for sure, even though he just kept swaying to the melody, he was staring curiously.

As the song ended, Beverly clapped. “I can’t get enough of this. I could listen to this song all day long, and that says something.” She complimented him, reaching her pocket to grab a cigarette.

“It does. She h-hates the Smiths.” Bill pointed out.

Eddie laughed, scratching the back of his head. “I know…”

“If you can make Bev listen to Morrissey’s lyrics all day long, then you can do anything.”

Stan patted Eddie's shoulders and resumed his reading. He had never been one to be interested in small talks, however, as he made that comment, he looked directly at Richie, as if he knew what he was hiding.

Something that not even Richie knew at that moment. “It was good. Really good.”

For the first time, Eddie looked up at Richie and didn’t see not even one bit of sarcasm on his face. Not a slightest playful tone in his voice, or anything displeasing about him. _Good_. Those words came from somewhere Richie couldn’t tell. He wasn’t great with honesty. Or compliments. Or dealing with Eddie, he just had noticed.

Everyone stared at him with unreadable expressions, especially Kaspbrak.

“Thanks.” He replied, making eye contact at last. Richie’s stomach dropped. Eddie’s voice still resounding in his mind.

What the fuck was that?

_To die by your side, well, the pleasure- the privilege is mine._

Please shut up, Morrissey.

**Author's Note:**

> for those who want to listen the song eddie played https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siO6dkqidc4


End file.
